Paladin Sandstone (Confessions of a Wasteland Pony)
Paladin Sandstone is one of the main characters of the audio drama Confessions of a Wasteland Pony. He tells his story in the fifth episode, The Ranger. Biography Present Day Paladin Sandstone is a Steel Ranger buck who is seen regularly traveling the wastelands around Manehattan. His main purpose in life is to ultimately exterminate the Great Arrows raider gang which were responsible for destroying his home and family. Although seeing that as unrealistic, he has resigned to simply seeking out Fuel Rod, the one who sabotaged their bases and betrayed them to the Great Arrows. Upon finding Fuel Rod, or proof Fuel Rod is dead, he intends to commit suicide and rejoin his family. During her regular travels, Battered Blade ended up meeting him at a trading post. After some bar stool conversation, he opened up about much of his story to her. Upon hearing parts of his story she introduced him to DJ Pony (though Homage and Amber Horn), where he ultimately agreed to give his confession. History Paladin Sandstone comes from an old Steel Ranger garrison once called the "Special Material Command." They were a group of Steel Rangers once responsible for protecting 24 buried weapon caches in case The Great War did happen. As the conventional war dragged on however, the troops were called into battle, leaving only one group of soldiers left in Castle Alpha in Thunder Valley. Like many other post-war military groups they would need to establish a new identity, now calling themselves "The Guardianship." After losing contact with the other 23 outposts, the steel rangers of Castle Alpha made it their divine mission to reclaim all the others. This mission would take centuries, as monsters, ghouls, and the mysterious Great Arrows raider clan impeded their efforts. Their greatest threat however, was within. Rebellions and betrayals would plague The Guardianship throughout its history, including its end. Sandstone was merely an 8 year old Initiate when their leader at the time, Elder Feathertail, ordered a reckless mission which made him and dozens of others into orphans. Within his squad, only one other Initiate was completely without family, a young mare named Carmina. This led them to staying close together, becoming friends and eventually a couple. This was almost stopped when their relationship was discovered, but their leader Star Paladin Turquoise relocated them to Castle Alpha. They trained, along with their third friend, Armature, to eventually complete their parents' mission to retake Outpost Zeta. In the wake of that victory however, Fuel Rod (the son of Elder Feathertail), betrayed them all to the Great Arrows. They were summoned before their dying leader, Elder Greycrest, who gave them the Master Spell Matrix to reinstall at another outpost. Sandstone, as a Paladin, was entrusted with the location of one of the distant outposts. During their escape from the valley, Fuel Rod revealed himself and killed Carmina while collapsing the Delta Pass tunnel. Sandstone and Armature were trapped with the body of another soldier who was with them. Sandstone had lost a lot of blood after being shot, and killed Armature in his delirium. Following this incident, he hallucinated Armature's voice during the other 4 weeks he was trapped in the tunnel. During this mental state, the voice of Armature encouraged Sandstone from deep in his subconscious that he had to survive "to avenge Carmina." This led him to resorting to cannibalism, eating part of Scribe Daemon's leg to survive. Sandstone's guilt about killing Armature, as well as the cannibalism and survivor's guilt have gone on to define the following years of his life. Quotes * "Her name was Carmina... She and I ended up sitting there for a long time, looking out over the haze of the valley. We could see the lightning in the distance. Every crack of thunder sounded like a gunshot… Even though we knew the battle was already over." * "What if she’s right, what if we reached the other side of that great salt plateau and found a world totally restored… Like we were stuck in some cursed time capsule. But the reality was, neither of us might ever see what was beyond that vast emptiness… We had to hold onto any hope that we could. If we didn’t, it would drive us mad." * "Well, we had left the main party going on in the mess hall, and had only been gone for 10 minutes when Star Paladin Turquoise found us in a... compromising situation." * "I landed next to Armature, both of us stopped by Scribe Daemon’s dead body. Then I watched as the boulders came down, crushing Carmina beneath their weight. I slipped into unconsciousness after seeing the last light of my life, be snuffed out." Behind the Scenes * Sandstone was voiced by Webshoter. * Similar to previous episodes, a portion of The Ranger was written on airplanes and airport terminals. A large part was also completed following SkyBolt being hospitalized in the Autumn of 2015. * While mostly produced during the summer of 2016, its release was delayed while episode 4, The Engineer was being finished. * It was the first Confessions episode released solely on the EAST Corp Productions channel. It was also the first time a Confessions episode was shorter than its predecessor. * The Ranger episode established the "Offsite Broadcasting Station" subplot of Confessions teased in the original pilot. With the subplot development, Battered Blade and Amber Horn returned in The Ranger as regular commentators. * After the episode premiered, SkyBolt released a rewrite of "Hurt" by Johnny Cash based on Sandstone's life after the episode's story. It's called "Scar." Category:EAST Corp Productions Category:Confessions of a Wasteland Pony Category:Characters Category:Earth ponies Category:Characters (Confessions of a Wasteland Pony)